Nature: The Glue That Holds the Family Together

In 2005, Richard Louv coined the phrase “Nature Deficit Disorder” in his bestselling book “Last Child in the Woods.” The basic idea of NDD is that today’s kids are deprived of time spent in nature: they’re over-scheduled, over-structured, over-scrutinized, and supervised at all times; they lack the ability to think and feel independently; they’re stressed; most of all, they don’t get muddy, dig for worms with their bare fingers, climb trees, or otherwise have enough spirited, unbridled fun (in a nutshell.)

If this concept sounds familiar, that’s because Louv’s book opened the door to a national discourse on the subject, and started an entire movement. As powerful a statement about how humans coexist with nature as “Silent Spring,” the book that launched the… Read the article